Every year in February or March we are coffee tripping. Multiple good coffee countries to be visited, but Kenya stays our prime objective.
We buy yearly around 5000 kilo's of Kenyan Specialty Coffee. Kenya has since many years the reputation of the ideal coffee country for filter coffees. At Caffenation we roast easily 1000 kilo's of this 5 K volume for Espresso, but all the rest goes into our orange Kenya KEN filter coffee bags.
Sweet and Fruity is the easy description, but of course there is much more to taste. Here a list with the most mention cupping notes at this years coffee hunt:
Tomato, elderflower, raspberry, coca cola, mojito, citrus, cinnamon, chocolate, mango, melon, rhubarb, tomato sours, raisins, black tea, pineapple, petit beurre, papaya, green tea, dread cranberries, berries, florals, and many other taste notes.
Of course we cup a lot of coffees and finally buy around 10 lots. We try to mix in different sizes (AA, AB, PB and C) and hope to find lots from multiple regions. And there it got a bit 'boring' this year as most of the favourite coffees came from the region of Nyeri.
Of course Nyeri has been known for many years as a holy region with plenty of sun, rain and good soil. Also the harvesting and processing protocols are up to level, but one way or another Nyeri coffees performed better this year than Kirinyaga, Muranga, Embu, Mt Elgon or Kiambu.
Coffee from the Nyeri District is sometimes referred to as “the heart of Black Gold Coffee” due to the intensity of flavor packed into slow-developing, very dense beans. Grown in the highlands between the eastern base of the Aberdare Range and the western slopes of Mt Kenya in young volcanic soil, and blessed by strategic rainfall, beans develop a classic balanced Kenyan taste profile, yes fruity, sweet (and clean).
Soon we will let you in on the new Kenyan coffees selected by our magical trio; Sofie, Lieke and Giel.
I can't wait to taste them all. You too? Expect them on the shelf by mid May, which is very early compared to previous years. I'm sure you'll love them.